Rackspace CEO set to testify at SOPA hearings next week

Lanham Napier, CEO of Rackspace Hosting Inc., hasn’t been quiet about his opposition to the controversial Stop Online Piracy Act. And next week he’ll be able to continue his fight against the pending legislation when he addresses the U.S. House of Representatives Committee on Oversight and Government Reform.

Napier said in a recent blog post that something needs to be done to “crack down on websites that traffic in stolen movies, music, software, and other intellectual property” but has mentioned that the SOPA bill approach is flawed. He cites security and censorship issues that could do more damage than good.

“But we’ve studied the SOPA bill closely and conferred with experts in our company and elsewhere in the technology industry, and we believe that it would not achieve its stated purpose,” Napier blogged. ” Foreign IP thieves, in particular, could find ways to evade the law.

“Meanwhile, SOPA would require that Rackspace and other Internet service providers censor their customers with little in the way of due process, trumping the protections present in the current Digital Millennium Copyright Act. What’s more, the SOPA bill would seriously disrupt the Domain Name Service that is crucial to the smooth operation of the web.”

Basically, if a website infringes upon, pirates or counterfeits intellectual property the government or copyright holder could seek a court order to shut down the site. Plus the copyright holders and the government also could go after websites that link or are connected to the offending site.

“The SOPA bill, as it stands, is a deeply flawed piece of legislation,” Napier siad in his blog. “It is bad for anyone who uses the Internet, including Rackspace, the more than 160,000 business customers that we serve, and the tens of millions of retail customers that they serve. It is bad for job creation and innovation.”

Other companies such as Twitter, Facbook and Google also have opposed the bill, which Lamar Smith (R, TX) introduced last year. It’s currently awaiting approval in the House Judiciary Committee.

Darrell Issa (R-CA), the committee’s Chairman, announced that the hearing would be held to discuss “the potential impact of Domain Name Service (DNS) and search engine blocking on American cyber-security, jobs and the Internet community,” according to the committee’s web page.

“An open Internet is crucial to American job creation, government operations, and the daily routines of Americans from all walks of life,” Issa stated in a prepared statement. “The public deserves a full discussion about the consequences of changing the way Americans access information and communicate on the Internet today.”

Others set to testify include Alexis Ohanian, co-founder of Reddit.com, and Michael Macleod-Ball, the chief of staff for First Amendment Counsel, American Civil Liberties Union.